A Kit-Tastrophe
by Superfloxes
Summary: Everyone focuses on the heroic dogs, but there is another group of six who always try to cause trouble but always have to be saved in the end. A kitten feels like failure, and after realising the truth about his owner wants to prove that he can succeed and do good.
1. A Crash Landing

**Author Notes - Well well well... isn't this an interesting story? This is a PAW Patrol fanfiction that takes the focus away from the dogs, and puts it on their 'evil' (and kitty) counterparts, the Kit-Tastrophe Crew. Or Kitten Catastrophe Crew. Whatever.**

 **I love the idea of the heroic puppy rescue team having 'evil counterparts' that consist of kittens. That is perfect.**

 **And as a cat person who loves this idea, I really like watching episodes with them. Which is why it strikes me as odd that they rarely appear in any fanfiction.**

 **The only issue I have with them is their sheer lack of development - odd, considering how good the show usually is at it. They each don't have much personality beyond 'cat' and 'causes trouble', and they don't even OFFICIAL NAMES as far as I am aware.**

 **So, here's one starring them. Not only that, but I gave them their own personalities, names, and even genders.**

 **Due to the themes and some of the protagonists being less than likeable, expect this story to have a darker, more mean-spirited tone at times.**

 **CHAPTER ONE - A CRASH LANDING**

'I don't get it.'

The little light brown kitten sat at the top of the cat jungle gym. He couldn't sleep, even though he wanted to. He couldn't figure out why, though.

Was it the big heavy jetpack on his bag? He slept with that all the time. Maybe it was the little grey kitten who would not shut up as she hunted the ball of yarn. Whatever it was, sleeping wasn't on his mind, or at least as much as it usually was.

'Don't get what?' The grey kitten stopped playing for just a moment to speak, before returning to her game.

The kitten in blue, laying on the cavern floor, rolled over and groaned. She glared at the light brown kitten.

'Ignore him, Trash! He's doing it again.'

'Doing what again?'

The orange-clad kitten finished off her kibble, and rolled her eyes. 'Another one of his speeches, it seems. Let him be, Thief.'

Thief groaned, figured she wasn't getting sleep that night, and got up. She walked over to the TV remote, and...

' _SAY HELLO TO THE MOST HEROIC TEAM IN ADVE-_ '

'GAH, stupid ads! _Kasandra_ is supposed to be on right now.'

The white-with-black-spots kitten heard the loud and sudden ad, and dived into one of the boxes in the jungle gym.

Thief turned the TV off and kicked the remote away. 'Do those mutts need to ruin our TV time too?!'

Trash frowned. 'Aw. I was enjoying that too.'

'SHUT UP!'

Trash was silenced, and ran the other way. The spotted cat by the name of Flame buried her head and moaned.

The cat in yellow awoke from her nap, and glared at Thief. She pranced over to her, and bit into her tail.

'OW! Hey, Crumble, what the-?!'

'You do _not_ yell at Trash or Flame. **Ever.** '

'Hmph. Just because you're the oldest doesn't mean you have power over me.'

Crumble bared her teeth and hissed. Thief flinched and jumped away. Trash laughed at her, while Drought sighed. Flame remained shivering in her hiding spot.

It was just a normal night for Crash, hence why he always sat at the top. He ignored his female teammates, and continued his thinking.

'I just don't understand it. Everyone loves those dogs. Why don't they like us?'

They weren't really _hated_ it seemed - being adorable kittens probably helped - but compared to how beloved the dogs were, they were nothing.

'Cos everyone is that town is an idiot!' Thief said.

'Uh, maybe...' Trash said. 'It's because... they're better than us?'

'Better than _us_? HA! No dog could ever be better than a cat!'

 _Better than us..._

No one ever took what Trash said seriously, for good reason, but now Crash couldn't help thinking... what if she was right?

No. Thief was right. A dog could never be better than a cat.

Or could they?

'I don't think we should care.' Drought said. 'If we spend all our time thinking about the Paw Patrol, we're wasting it.'

Flame climbed out of her spot, and up to the top with her only male comrade. He didn't move and accepted her acquaintance.

'Y-you've been thinking about them a lot. Why is that?'

He didn't answer her, instead drifting off into his thoughts, off to the day that started this 'obsession' in the first place.

—

 _The day was already off to a pretty poor start._ _ **He**_ _, as he often called_ _ **him**_ _, had ordered them to wash his socks, because apparently using a washing machine was too much for him; kitty slavery was easier._

 _None of them, even Trash, were happy about it, but still they did it. Crash's job was to dry them off in the most ridiculous way possible - flying around with them._

 _The problems began when a couple of baby eagles, of all things, swooped by and snatched up the sock. He struggled to get it back, and..._

 _Somehow, he ended up caught in a branch above a rather big fall, next to a nest. In most situations, he could just fly off, the one thing he would always be thankful of_ _ **him**_ _for. Alas, it seemed his wings didn't wanna work._

 _He noticed on the road below him, that fisherman guy who talked like a children's book and the clumsy Dalmatian pup looked up to him. He didn't remember or care what they said, but one thing stayed in his mind._

 _He know they called him 'she'._

 _He hated it. No one, not even_ _ **him**_ _, knew that the pink-clad kitty was the only boy among five girls._ _ **Everyone**_ _seemed to think he was the only girl, just like the flying pup. The others, except for Trash who didn't mind, weren't happy with everyone thinking they were boys either._

 _You think it wouldn't be so hard for someone to just check him, but that wasn't something people were comfortable with doing._

 _Was it because he wore pink, his favourite colour? Or was it because_ _ **he**_ _assumed they were the same as the dogs, and everyone just went with it?_

 _Whatever it was, it wasn't like he could do anything about it._

 _The Dalmatian climbed up his ladder to save him, but all the flying kitty needed was a little boost and off he went._

 _But he needed that dang sock back._

 _Then, she arrived. Who else could it be?_

 _She tried to save him, but he ignored her. After all, why should he care what a dog is going on about? Though he couldn't help wondering if listening to her would get him out of trouble._

 _The dog team and fish guy had no reason to worry about him. He was just playing around with the baby birds. The moment the momma eagle returned, he could fly off._

 _And he did, making sure to shed his fur all over the police dog's truck, so at least he could cause trouble after the fact._

 _When Crash finally returned to his comrades, all of whom except for Thief was very happy about, he was told that_ _ **he**_ _only cared about his stupid socks, not the life of his kitten._

 _Something about that day... still spoke to him. He and the girls had been saved many times, but this day..._

 **Author Notes - When characters like the Kitten Catastrophe Crew have such little development, I see it as an opportunity to take said characters and build on them.**

 **I have a question for you - how do you think the 'evil counterparts' feel about their designation, especially when they are constantly being saved by the heroes? Spoilers... they don't like it very much.**

 **I chose Crash, the kitty counterpart to Skye, to be the main character as this entire story was inspired by the episode 'Pups Save a Flying Kitty'. The whole 'gender-swapping' thing is just because that's how I always saw it; five females and a male in pink, more-or-less to further the contrast. So when the show went against this... that's an opportunity!**


	2. Realisation

**Author Notes - Second chapter! Yay... even though it was originally part of the first.**

 **CHAPTER TWO - REALISATION**

As he thought about that day, it dawned on him. _That_ must've been it. It had nothing to do with the fact that they were dogs while his crew were kittens.

It was because him and the girls always had to be saved... by _them_.

No, that couldn't be it. Surely.

'You still thinking about the eagle nest incident?' Flame asked. 'Don't worry about it.'

'It's not just that. How many other times have those pups rescued us?'

Thief groaned. 'Would you just shut up about the stupid mutts? _Who cares?!_ They're just a buncha-!'

A glare from Crumble shut her up. Trash, in a rare moment of seriousness, wished to divert the conversation slightly.

'Hey, uh... how about that newest episode of _Kwuelest Kitten_? I don't know about you, but I think her cwuelty towards the dogs is getting disappointing. That show's weally been going downhill!'

Unfortunately, she was ignored, as usual.

Drought preferred to stay out of these situations, not wanting to get herself involved in silly arguments. Sometimes, though, she had to.

'We should just not worry about them. We're not them, and they're not us. We shouldn't be thinking about them non-stop, nor should we keep insulting them.'

Crash believed she was right, but he couldn't ignore the thoughts.

'Do you remember when we pretended to be a rescue team?'

He was met with groans from almost everyone.

'Yes.' Drought said, annoyed. 'It only happened a few days ago.'

'Yeah, it was fun!' Trash yelled. 'Until we had to be rescued ourselves, but whatever!'

Thief shuddered. 'Don't remind me. Even if doing good didn't make me physically sick, you **know** we only did it cos Dumbhinger wanted to show off how much better he is and used us as _objects to reach that goal!_ '

The notion hit Crash like a truck.

Flame gasped. 'H-How could you say that? He cares about us.'

'HA! When Crash was lost, all Dumbhinger cared about was his damn socks. And just look at me! He only 'saved' me from that pound because I'm just a cat version of the police mutt. He didn't even bother to find out that I was a girl!'

Crash didn't say a thing, digging his claws deep into the soft material. Flame jumped off, and Trash took her place.

'Are you listening to Thief wight now? She just doesn't understand it, does sh-?'

' _WOULD YOU BE QUIET?!_ '

Without thinking, he slashed her across the cheek. She fell to the ground with a high-pitched squeak.

The others stared at him. He withdrew his claws, looking down on the grey kitten.

'Trashie...?'

Through her thick, fluffy fur, the mark was barely visible, but the blood slowly seeping out could be seen easily. Flame dove into another jungle gym box.

Crumble opened her mouth, to berate him for breaking their most important rule, but couldn't say a word.

'Wow...' Trash said, putting on a smile through the pain. 'That one hurt.'

'I'm sorry! I just-'

Thief rolled her eyes and groaned. 'Of course. Ya lost your temper cos the truth is too much for your brain to handle.'

Crash growled, wanting to shut her up and tell her that wasn't the case, but he knew she was right.

'Come on, Thief.' Drought said. 'Don't act like that. He saved Trash and Flame from a life on the street, you from being eu-'

'You seriously think he did all that because he likes us? You wanna know what his real motives were? He saw that heroic mutt team, and wanted to one-up some lady. So, he hunted for six kittens who looked just like those mutts, out of jealousy I'll bet, so he could look sooo muuuch better.'

Crash sighed, and admitted defeat. He joined in on the dark brown kitten's rant.

'But we failed. Each and every time. Whenever we did anything to cause trouble, we failed, and had to be saved by those dogs. Hijacking the Paw Patroller, ruining the tulip gardens, even having a bath... all ended in failure and embarrassment.'

He thought back on their previous misadventures.

No doubt the most downright embarrassing moment was when him and the girls bathed themselves with shampoo that turned them into those weird white floaty things he saw sometimes. While they were thankful little Trash had been saved first, they were not happy that poor Flame had to endure the most. The fact that they continued to call her a 'he' did not help matters.

Their town could've won the award for best garden, had they not been scared away by a shadow. A SHADOW. But he had admit, the police dog looked strangely adorable with that music-playing teddy bear.

Hijacking the Paw Patroller seemed like a good idea, and it even went well at first, until **he** got _them_ to drive. It ended with the Patroller driving out of control. And, as usual, the dogs had to get them out of the situation. If they hadn't been such idiots and fell for the old 'distract them with a yarn-ball' trick...

But then there was the day **he** made them rescue him from a bunch of fake situations. It was their opportunity, to prove that they could do it. They even had their own call.

' _Just hiss for assist!' Trash often repeated, giggling more each time._

But, what happened?

The same thing that always happened.

The six of them screwed up, and then they all had to be saved by the very same group they were trying to one-up. The boy even threw their line back at them, probably meaning well but mocking them for their failure.

'So on top of being here just because a selfish man had selfish goals...' Crash suddenly yelled, surprising all of the girls. '... WE'RE **FAILURES!** '

'Hey,' Crumble said. 'We're not-'

'Would the rest of you just get a clue?! Can any of you name ANY plan of ours that didn't backfire and end with the dogs saving us? Name ONE!'

A few seconds passed, full of silence from no one knowing what to say.

'Exactly. THIS is why no one in Adventure Bay likes us - why should they like carbon copy failures instead of the real thing?'

'Crash, please, don't think like that.' Crumble said, trying to get to him.

'What else is there to think? That there's nothing to me beyond being the cat version of Skye? We need to stop denying the truth and realise that we're-'

He heard something that made him stop, a soft weak sound. Drought peered into the box that Flame hid in, and gave him a look.

'Congratulations Crashy. You made Flame cry. I'm sure you're happy about it.'

At that moment, Crash could say nothing more. He thought for a few seconds, and made up his mind.

'Mrow, wings!'

On command, his jetpack sprouted wings and engines. It took an extra second to start up.

'This kitty's gotta fly!'

He leapt from his spot, and launched into the air.

'Where are you going?'

'Somewhere important!'

He disappeared out through the small hole in the cave walls, and the sound of his wings faded into the distance.

'Cwash!'

'What is he doing?'

'He's never done this before.'

'Good riddance!' Thief yelled. 'If that pussy-cat wants to leave and get himself killed, then so be it.'

Crumble, once again wondering why they ever considered the blue-clad kitten part of their team, ignored her and turned to the others.

'Do any of us have a clue when he could be going?'

'Off to annoy our owner for food, no doubt.' Drought answered.

'Uh... maybe he's going to Adventuwe Bay... maybe?' Trash said.

Drought was about ready to lambast her for the idiotic suggestion, but slowly the realisation came to her.

'Of course. Where else is there to go? But with his wings he'll be way ahead of us. How are we supposed to catch up?'

'I-I know.' Flame said. 'How about this?'

Flame, seemingly having teleported, stood next to their rocket-powered cat carrier, the remote resting inside it.

'The cahwieh!'

'You serious?' Drought remarked. 'Did our owner seriously leave this with us, remote included? Nevermind. Get in, girls!'

Flame opened up the carrier, and Trash, Crumble and Drought hopped in.

'I think I already know the answer, but... a-are you coming, Thief?' Flame asked.

Thief wasn't willing to respond. Instead she pretended no one else existed and turned the TV back on.

'Com'on Flame. Just ignore her.' Crumble said. 'If we want to catch up with Crash we have to leave now.'

Flame jumped to the back, closing the gate behind her. Drought swiped the carrier away from Crumble, and they zoomed out the secret lair into the foggy beach.

'YIPPEE!' Trash cheered. 'We're getting out of this fog-bog and heading for clean pwetty skies!'

'Trash, please.' Drought said. 'If I'm gonna drive this thing from the inside with a remote, I need to concentrate.'

'Oh. Sowwy.'

 **Author Notes - Well, that escalated quickly. Considering that almost all of the appearances the Kitten Catastrophe Crew make end with them needing to be saved by the PAW Partrol, at least one of them would have self-esteem issues by now.**

 **The next couple chapters will be quite a bit longer.**

 **I refrain from spelling it as 'Katastrophe Krew' cos, while the additional alliteration appeal is awesome albeit annoying (thanks Turbot)... think about the acronym that makes.**


	3. An Adventure

**Author Notes - This story got more attention than I thought it would. I'm insecure, so compliment me! (I'm totally not desperate). All kidding aside, I'm quite happy.**

 **If you were missing them, the Paw Patrol start appearing in this one.**

 **CHAPTER THREE - AN ADVENTURE**

The road to Adventure Bay from the aptly named Foggybottom wasn't a long one, but it felt so much longer when a kitten's only form of transportation was a rocket-powered cat carrier with three room-mates who weren't doing anything to help.

'I'm telling you, we're lost.' Crumble said, losing her patience.

'How can we be lost?' Drought retorted. 'There is literally nowhere to go in this foggy limbo.'

'All this fog makes everything look the same. We're lost.'

'Fine then. You drive.'

'Me? I have no clue how that dang remote works. _You_ barely have a clue!'

'So l let me drive.'

Flame looked out the window, watching her foggy home vanish into the mist. She sighed, deep in thought.

'You okay Flame?' Trash asked.

'I don't know. What if Thief is right? Ya know, about our owner not caring about us? He was more concerned about his wet socks when Crash got lost.'

'Thief being wight? Ha! She's just a jerky-jerk. If she makes you feel bad, I'm gonna... gonna... _AH-CHOO!_ '

Flame jumped aside to dodge the splash, wanting to avoid any water, especially that from a mouth.

'Ew... are you feeling okay?'

'Yeah, just fine. I think.'

The cat carrier left the foggy air, and just over the hill, stood the town by the ocean, still as bright as ever despite the darkness of night.

'Ah-ha! I told you. I knew exactly where I was going.'

' _Grrr.._. right. Can you see Crash?'

'You mean the pink furball flying around the bridge?'

* * *

Crash left the fog behind, pursuing the clear skies of Adventure Bay. He zoomed through the air, loving the feeling of the wind in his fluffy fur.

He gained altitude, and hovered in place. From up high, he recognised the seaside town with the bridge and tower. He dove down, and perched on the highest point on the bridge. He looked over the beautiful area.

It wasn't too late, so all of the lights were still on, including those of the tower. Compared to the typical nights he was used to, he loved it.

'I did it. I actually did it. On my own, by my will, I've flown all the way here. And now I can finally prove that I'm not a ... AARRGH!'

He misplaced a single paw, and now he found the freezing water getting closer and closer.

'Waaater! Mrow, wings!'

His wings gained a burst of speed, flinging him out of his downwards spiral. He flew around, not minding where he went.

'No! I don't need to be saved any - OOF!'

He didn't quite know what happened. All he knew was that his one of his wings hit something, and it threw him off completely. A suspense cable caught him, and he held on.

'What the heck just happened?'

He observed two things. First, the cable he hung on was high, _high_ , up above the road. Scary, but no problem, since he could just fly away and...

Uh oh.

Problem. The impact dented one of his wings completely out of shape. The engine still worked, but spiralling out of control was not on his mind.

'Oh great...'

A car below him pulled over, and an ordinary person stepped out. They pulled out their phone and... Crash knew precisely where this was going.

Within minutes, he heard the sound of vehicles driving closer. He recognised the kid's ATV, closely followed by the blue police truck. The orange hovercraft diverted and splashed into the sea. The pink-and-grey helicopter flew above them all.

If he had to guess, the police dog was there to supply an emergency net, since they seemed more often chosen for their equipment rather than actual skill. The diving dog would've been down there in case he fell to the water. And Skye... her job was obvious.

She left her copter, and now hovered in front of him. Now, he had a good look at her. They had the same pattern across their entire body.

His eyes widened. It was such a coincidence. The only difference between the two was that he was a cat... a male cat of course.

' _And just look at me! He only 'saved' me from that pound because I'm just a cat version of the police mutt.'_

As Thief's comment came back to him, he realised something. It brought him back to the day he met **him** , when **he** adopted him from the pet store.

' _Here you go, sir. I'm surprised no one adopted him earlier. He's like a kitty version of Skye!'_

' _Yes. She's perfect!'_

Of course! While most of them did not look identical to their puppy counterpart, him and Thief were just kitty versions of their respective pup, albeit gender-swapped.

Thief was **right**.

 _That selfish man didn't want kittens to have loving pets. He just envied these dogs and wanted to look better than them. He doesn't care about us at all!_

'Here kitty, I'll get you down.'

Her welcoming smile snapped him out of it. Now, only one thought filled his mind.

 _I'm not going to be saved again!_

He let go of the cable, and dived through the air.

'Ryder, she jumped!'

As he plummeted towards the ocean below, the diving dog leaping into action, another thought consumed him.

 _I didn't think THIS THROOOUGH!_

 ***SPLASH***

He _hated_ water. Absolutely _loathed_ it. Just being on a floating bouncy castle with the girls was enough to petrify him, Trash's apparent obsession with getting the thing to pop not helping.

' _Trash! What the heck-'_

' _It's a bouncy castle. I have to bounce!'_

 _'Do you WANNA drown?!'_

Now, he was surrounded by the liquid, in total darkness. He didn't know where the surface was, and he froze from the bitter cold.

Something came towards him in the dark, and lifted him up. Out of the water, fur absolutely dripping, he lay on the diving dog's back.

'Whoa! You weally took a dive, dude.'

The way he talked reminded him of the grey kitten. No doubt the two of them would get along just fine.

'She's okay Wyder, but her wing's all bwoken!'

'No problem!' The boy yelled from above. 'Rocky will fix it up in no time!'

* * *

'DROUGHT!'

Everything was going smooth... until, somehow or another, the girls managed to crash the carrier into a tree. Trash cheered and demanded for a second round, while Flame shrieked and jumped onto a very annoyed Crumble.

'Before anyone says anything,' Drought said, trying to control the situation. 'It was Flame's fault for distracting me.'

'S-s-sorry. I heard a car horn, and it sc-scared me.'

Crumble opened the latch and hopped outside, bringing Flame with her. The carrier had been dented, and one of the rockets lay broken on the ground.

'Ah... litterbox.'

'I-I think we broke it.'

Drought followed them outside, and inspected the broken rocket.

'We're not fixing this without some glue, at least. We need you, Trash.'

The grey kitten approached the edge of the carrier floor, took one step, and fell flat on her face. Flame rushed over and helped her up.

'A-are you sure you're okay?'

'Yeah, I'm fine! The cwash left me a bit dizzy, that's all.'

Crumble picked up the rocket with her shovel, and threw it into the carrier.

'That rocket is more than a little broken. No amount of glue is gonna fix that. We'll have to search for Crash on foot.'

She scanned their surroundings. Conveniently, they had crashed next to the bridge, right by the place with the grooming girl.

'I-Is that Crash?' Flame said, pointing to the pink thing falling to the water.

'Cwash!'

They watched in silence, waiting.

'She's okay Wyder,' They heard the diver yell. 'But her wing's all bwoken!'

Crumble sighed in relief. 'Okay. He's fine.'

The vehicles drove off, across the bridge away from them and towards the tower.

'And they're taking him to the tower!' Trash yelled.

'They'll likely be keeping him with them until our owner comes to pick him up.' Drought said. 'We gotta sneak him out quickly. Come on.'

The four kittens started their trek across the bridge above the water. Of course, being tiny kittens, the road became all the more longer.

'I-I hope Crash is safe.' Flame said. 'D-do you think he's safe, Trash?'

She looked behind her to see the grey kitten, normally high in energy, trailing behind. Her running slowed down to a walk.

'I really don't think you're okay...'

'What? I'm fine! I weally weally am. I-'

She stopped, and stepped over to the edge of the bridge. The water shimmering practically hypnotised her, as it always did. The waves almost spoke to her.

The little grey kitten was weird when it came to water. The other members of her crew hated water, except for Drought, but she merely tolerated it. Trash, on the other paw...

'Aw, that water looks so pwetty! I hafta!'

Flame spun around and charged for her.

'D-don't! We know you love the water around here, but-'

Trash jumped. 'YIPPEEEE!'

Drought and Crumble heard the happy yell - followed swiftly by a small, barely audible splash - and ran over to the panicked white kitty staring at the water.

'Oh my gosh, Trash!' Crumble yelled.

'C-Can you see her?' Flame asked.

'I can't see a hint of green.'

Drought stepped up to the edge, and looked over the water like an eagle.

'Meet me at the beach.' She said. 'Meow, jets!'

'Drought, what are you... Drought!'

The jets on her back grew, ready to go. She leapt from the bridge, diving into the bay and vanishing into the water.

'D-Did she made it?' Flame asked.

'How should I know? We gotta get down to the beach and _pray_ they both make it out.'

* * *

Crash had to just sit there, without his wings, while the dogs took care of everything for him.

The recycling pup took his wings away from him, with his metal claw. The cat watched him, to make sure he didn't stash them into his truck. Instead, he hammered the wing back into place, turning them on for a moment to see that they worked.

'Good as new! It was just a small dent.'

'Good. Now give them back.'

As expected, the pup didn't respond. He really didn't know what he was expecting. Why would he respond? Cats couldn't talk like the dogs could. Why did that sentence feel odd?

'You were lucky getting stuck when you did. We were getting ready to go to bed.'

He was given his wings back, and he laughed. How foolish! Now he could just fly away and...

... and the boy just picked him up.

'What are you doing out here so late?'

'Ugh, if you must know,' Crash knew he wouldn't understand, but whatever. 'I've had enough of my owner and want to-'

'I should call Mayor Humdinger first thing tomorrow morning so he knows-'

Crash flinched. That very name shook him to the core. Without even letting the boy finish, the kitty squeezed out of his hands, and flew away into the night.

But he didn't fly away. After disappearing from their sight, he landed on the top of the tower and looked down.

As the recycling pup said, all the pups settled into their houses as all the lights went off. Lights across the town vanished one by one.

Crash himself wanted to sleep, but for once he didn't feel tired. His eyes had been set on the pink-and-grey house, the one containing the cockapoo.

' _There she is..._ mrosh... mrash...'

He jumped.

 **Author Notes - Don't worry about Trash; she'll be fine. Yes, the kitty version of Rocky loves water. It's ironic on many levels.**

 **So what is Crash planning? Well, you'll find out.**

 **'** **Thief being wight?' sounds poor said out loud. No one quote that out of context, please.**


	4. Kitty Fever

**CHAPTER FOUR**

 **Author Notes - Is Flame's stutter cute or annoying? I'm trying to make her adorkable. I guess it makes sense. She** _ **is**_ **the kitty counterpart to Marshall, who's probably the closest thing this show has to an introvert.**

 **Yes, Marshall is my favourite.**

 **Do you think it's a problem that the team consisting mostly of males never fails, while the female-dominant team never succeeds? I don't, so whatever.**

 **CHAPTER FOUR - KITTY FEVER**

Crumble stood right by the water, just out of reach of the tide. She waited for any scrap of orange and green. Flame was at the beach too, hiding her head in a leftover bucket.

'D-d-do you see them?'

Crumble scanned the water, and spotted the dark brown kitty popping out of the water, carrying a grey kitten.

The yellow-clad kitten smiled. 'I see them! I see them!'

Flame crawled out from the bucket. Drought, her head sticking out of the water, approached the shore. Trash lay on her back, just barely above the surface.

'I got her!' Drought said as she put her paws on the ground, emerging from the sea. 'But she is not okay.'

She knelt down and carefully rolled the grey kitten off her back and onto the soft dry sand. The cat who would normally get back on her feet in moments instead lay there, moaning. She shivered from the dripping water.

'Cwumby... I dod feel good...'

Crumble gave her a reassuring smile. 'Oh, you'll be fine. You've swum in cold water plenty of times be-'

She wanted to gently stroke the small fluffy head, but was greeted only with searing heat.

'Oh my gosh, she's burning up!'

Flame squeaked, and dove back into her bucket. She held her head down, whining. Every time anything went right for them, something going dreadfully wrong always seemed to follow.

'Of course.' Drought said, her body going tense. 'I should've known. She's got a terrible fever.'

'H-help her, Drought! Y-You're really good with this health stuff.'

The aquatic kitty lay down, getting a good look at Trash. The feverish cat coughed, and sniffed. She wouldn't stop shivering. Drought felt her forehead, her eyes widening.

'Oh that is _bad_. It's never gotten this bad before. My guess is that she was coming down with a cold before her temperature got too high. No doubt the walking and freezing water did not help.'

Crumble had to look away. She saw her crew as her little brother and sisters, and the sight of the youngest one collapsed on the ground, shivering...

'You have to help her. You always know what to do.'

Drought sighed. 'It's the middle of the night, we're who knows how far away from home, and I've never seen a case this bad.'

Flame walked over, wanting to believe it wasn't really happening.

'S-so, you can't help her?'

Drought turned away from her crew, to look into the distance. Her attention settled onto the tall tower by the cliff, surrounded by dog houses.

'Crumble, scoop her up into your shovel.' She said.

'What?'

'Scoop her up.'

'Uh, okay. Mrow-mrow, shovel!'

Crumble did as she was told, lifting up Trash into the yellow shovel on her back. The sickly kitty winced.

'Now what?'

'Now we have to take her to the Paw Patrol.'

The others were stunned into silence, something Drought was expecting. She could almost hear Thief complaining at her.

'I'm sorry, you want us to go to the dogs? There's no way we're dealing with _them_.' Crumble said.

'Y-yeah. What if they call up our owner?' Flame added.

As if responding to them, Trash giggled weakly. She wasn't laughing at anything, except for maybe her lightheadedness.

'Hehe... look at the pwetty fishies...'

Drought cringed. 'Alright. You wanna leave our little sister to die because you can't suck up your pride? Fine. I'll let Thief know.'

Crumble sighed. 'If Thief were here, she'd never let us get near those dogs. Okay. We'll do it.'

* * *

Crash drifted down, circling around the tower and landing on the grass. He put his wings away, and pranced across the ground. His sights were settled on the house containing the cockapoo.

 _Just do it, Crash. She might reject you, or hate you, or love you. You'll never know unless you try it. Ugh, sounds like I'm talking about food._

He stopped as the grass did. Something stopped him from taking the next step, but he had no clue what it was. The flying pup slept, unaware of his presence, smiling.

 _I can't believe it. I have to share a cave with five girls, but each of them get their own house... I wonder how she feels about being the only girl?_

He puffed his chest out, and ran. He didn't care about anything else, shoving any fear to the back of his mind so he could just run.

 _She's right there. Just a little bit more..._

He stopped. He stood right in front of the sleeping dog. Now, regrets absolutely flooded his mind.

 _Bad idea. Regrets! Regrets! This can only end bad for me. She'll hate this!_

He gulped.

'Mrow?'

No response.

'Mrow?'

He shuddered. The cockapoo slowly opened her eyes, yawned, then awoke with a start when she saw the fluffy kitten looking straight at her.

'You're... you're the kitty from before.' Her eyes narrowed. 'What are you doing here?'

Aw, he should've known. There was no way she wouldn't be suspicious over his presence. It wasn't like he could blame her either. The only times she ever saw him or the girls were when they were causing trouble. Or required saving.

'Where's the rest of your crew?' She asked, curious, not suspicious like he expected.

He shrugged. The girls had been in his mind, but he didn't really think about what they were doing. Well, he at least knew that Thief wasn't going out to save him.

'Are you lost?'

He shook his head. Before he could communicate with her properly, it had to do.

'Then, what are you doing out here?'

 _To prove I'm not a failure. To show I can do it. To explain to you I'm a boy. To defeat insecurities. To... to meet you._

All the reasons in his head, and he had no way of expressing them.

Skye seemed so much more relaxed, which made sense considering how late it was. Still, there was no mistaking that friendly face that helped him that faithful day.

Thus, his decision was made.

His mind shut down for a moment, his movement fuelled without thoughts. He was safe from the cold, settling deep into the warm, relaxing fur. Any stress he felt drained away, replaced by that feeling you get when you sit down at the Christmas fire.

When his mind came back, he couldn't believe it, but he didn't want to leave.

'I don't know why you're here, but you're not causing any trouble. You can stay.'

She lowered her head, and the similar-looking pets fell to sleep.

* * *

The three girls, with the sickly kitten in tow, ran up the hill. Led by Drought, they circled around until they came across the Dalmatian, sleeping in the red house.

'There he is.' Drought said. 'Marshall typically works as firefighter, but he has ambulance duties as well. He's just who we need.'

'B-But... he's asleep.' Flame said.

'So? He'll wake up for an emergency.'

Crumble still didn't feel right. She couldn't remember the last time they went directly to the dogs, if they ever did at all, at most calling them up.

Trash seemed to be the only one who actually did get close and directly 'ask' for help once, during the incident with the bears. None of them got to see that though, being forced to stay at the lair, but they all believed Trash would do that.

The grey kitten began another giggling fit, swatting at invisible butterflies. 'Pweddy budderflies...'

Now that the digging kitten thought about it, if she or any of the other crew members - even Thief - had come down with a terrible fever, Trash would consider going to the dogs for help almost immediately.

'Alright then. I'll go ask him. But first; do you want the others to know?'

'If possible, no. We want to make as little of a scene as possible.'

Crumble took a deep breath, and approached the sleeping firefighter. She felt uncomfortable, going out of her way to 'talk' to the ones who had to save her...

'Heeey Cwumby... dotcha lobe all da budderflies?'

... but it was for Trash.

'Meow?'

He didn't even move. The temptation to bite him awake was strong, but the risk of waking more pups than was necessary was too high.

'Meow!'

The dalmatian awoke with a start...

 ***BONK***

'Oof!'

... hitting his head as he did.

Flame gasped, and hid behind Drought for protection. The dog rubbed his head, and soon noticed the kitty standing in front of him.

'Another kitten? What are you doing here?'

Crumble couldn't help thinking that he was assuming she was there to cause trouble. She lowered Trash down onto the ground between them.

'He's sick?'

She, ya mutt! _She!_

The dog peered down, likely suspicious that she was faking it to create an opportunity to wreck havoc. One second of putting his paw on her forehead, however, proved to him she was not faking.

'Oh wow... his temperature is high! Dangerously high! I have to tell Ry-'

'No!'

They stared at each other. Somehow, he picked up just what she wanted, and went deeper into his house. He returned in his red ambulance gear, and picked up the kitty by the 'kitty pack' on her back. She was placed on a small, soft cushion.

Drought stepped closer, and Flame followed her for security. The three kittens sat in silence, letting the dog do his thing.

'Thermometer!'

On cue, the titular object popped out from his pup pack. Upon seeing the red stick, Trash tensed. She stood up, turned around, and gave him his worst view in years, giggling.

Drought sighed. 'Come on Trash. Don't do that now. Or ever.'

'Hey!' The dalmatian yelled, barely quiet enough to wake up no-one. 'You need to be-'

He realised something, something major, while he was being gifted the absolutely horrid view. Whether the kitten wanted to or not, she was revealing quite the game-changer.

'You're a girl?'

Drought's eyes widened, and she hit her forehead very, very hard. Flame just smiled; finally, someone knew the correct sex of at least one of them, even if it had to be revealed in the worst way possible.

'And... you haven't been spayed yet.'

The jaws of all three kittens dropped. Considering Trash's origins, it really wasn't a surprise. Only Crumble and Crash went through **that** procedure.

'You have to cooperate if you want to feel better. I need to know your temperature. If it's too high, I'll have to tell Ryder. I'd hate to do it, but my thermometer can go in more places than just mouths.'

In spite of having no clue what 'spayed' meant, Trash knew exactly what he was insinuating. She spun herself around, and opened her mouth wide. The red liquid inside rose fast.

'A hundred and four degrees? It's not dangerous yet, but if we don't get it down it will be.'

The kittens watched him dip a small cloth into the closest source of water - his water bowl - and lay it across her forehead.

'I-I'm confused.' Flame said. 'W-Wouldn't the cold water help her fever?'

Drought shook her head. 'Cooling the body down can help as long as it isn't too cold. I was in that water and it was icy.'

Crumble observed the dog more intensely, not because she wanted to learn anything, but the very actions surprised her.

It wasn't often the dogs got to see them, and whenever they did, it always spelt trouble for everyone involved. Whether it was leaving the recycling pup stranded on an island, or sending their ferris wheel running amok, the interactions were never really good.

The dalmatian, in particular, almost became a victim to them when they surrounded him after he tried to get that kung-fu scroll back. He may have had the size advantage, but they had power in numbers... until the other dogs arrived and they fled like dirty cowards.

Yet, after all of that, Crumble watched the dalmatian - in the middle of the night, no less - go out of his way to help one of them out in a time of need, with no hesitation.

 _I can't believe it._ She thought. _Why is he helping her? With all the trouble we've caused him and his friends, he'd be better off leaving her to die._

* * *

A small sound awoke Crash. He recognised the sound of Crumble, meowing as she did whenever she forced her younger crew mates awake. He stood up, and looked around.

'Crumble?'

He heard another voice, the one belonging to the firefighting dog, and he ran outside the pink dog house and behind the others.

'Kitty? Where are you going?'

The light brown kitten gasped and smiled upon seeing the sight of three familiar cats. He galloped over to them, happier than he felt like he should've been.

'Crash!'

'It's you!'

'I-I can't believe we found you!'

Flame pounced and pinned him to the ground, rubbing her head against him and purring. He rolled his eyes and accepted his fate. Crumble pranced over and joined in on the cuddling, while Drought just shook her head with a grin.

'Hey girls.'

'W-We were coming over to rescue you from these dogs.' Flame said. 'B-But...'

' _Rescue_ me? 'But' what?'

Drought motioned to him, towards the red dog house. He peered past the dalmatian, and saw the grey kitty lapping water out of a red oversized bowl.

'Oh no, Trash! Is she okay?'

'Calm down, she's fine.' Drought said. 'Marshall knows what he's doing.'

Trash, still a bit hazy, dipped her paws into the water and splashed about. Crash sighed in relief.

'The real question is - what are you doing here?' Drought asked.

That was a question he was hoping his crew wouldn't ask him. He didn't know how the heck to answer it.

'Well, you see...'

'There you are kitty! ... What are you doing up, Marshall?'

The female kittens scattered, Flame hiding behind Drought once again. Skye moved her attention to the dalmatian.

'I had an emergency. This little kitty was coming down with a terrible fever.'

'Awww, poor kitty!'

This sound of worry confused Crash. He couldn't understand why she would be so sympathetic towards a troublemaker. Then again, it's hard to not feel bad for a little kitten in trouble.

'But she got here quick and she's recovering really well!'

'Aw, that's good... she?'

Crash grinned; someone knew!

'I, uh, made an interesting discovery. By accident.'

He laughed nervously, only now realising how awkward the aforementioned situation was.

'Oh, okay... do you think we were wrong about the others too?'

'I-I don't want to check.'

While Marshall checked on the kitty's face, voicing his shock for the big scratch across her cheek, Drought looked Crash in the eye.

'Don't think you could avoid the question. You came out here for a reason.'

He sighed, and glanced at Skye.

'She's the reason.'

To help her with her decision making, the diving kitty looked over to Trash. The grey kitty still lacked energy in her minimalistic moments and shivered.

Marshall applied a bandage against the cut. 'Don't be afraid of leaving any water for me. You need a lot.'

Trash nodded, lapped up a mouthful of water, then promptly sneezed on it. Marshall cringed.

'Yeah... you can have all of it.'

Drought pondered her decision, but the kitty's state made the answer obvious.

'Fine. I don't know your deal, but Trash is clearly not healthy enough to head all the way home, especially after we crashed the kitty carrier.'

'You did _what_?'

' _Sooo,_ we'll stay the night, but if Trash recovers in the morning we'll be leaving before any of these dogs wake up.'

After a few seconds, he nodded.

'Good. We'll sort this all out in the morning.'

 **Author Notes - I find it incredibly important to not demonise the Paw Patrol. Stories starring the bad guys typically make this mistake. It would bring down their character, and utterly ruin the entire point of Crash's arc.**

 **I do not apologise for the entire 'Trash's real sex reveal' scene. I use the word 'sex' specifically instead of 'gender' because I fear that if I don't, the story will suddenly be filled with allegories to current real world issues that we absolutely do not need.**

 **Originally, the kittens were to have practically no camaraderie at all, more-or-less disliking each other (with the exception of Trash, both ways). I think it's better if they do love each other, with Thief being the only one who doesn't.**


	5. Fog, Fog, and More Fog

**Author Notes - Slow releases are the best. I decided to swap Chap. 5 and Chap. 6 since 5 is taking a while to write, while 6 is already done.**

 **That sounds like a really bad idea, but 5 was its own thing that could honestly be posted at any point of the story.**

 **WARNING. The language gets more intense in this one. Nothing major, but definitely taking advantage of the rating.**

 **CHAPTER FIVE - FOG, FOG, AND MORE FOG**

Thief woke up. She didn't really know why. After her first peaceful night in forever, she just awoke for no good reason. If she had to guess, it was probably because that was the time her owner usually came over to pick them up.

Except, of course, he wasn't there.

'Ugh... if you're gonna force me to go to town or whatever with you, do it right!'

She held her head down, getting ready to go back to sleeping the day away. As she closed her eyes to drift away, however, her crew mates came to mind, who she had just noticed were still gone. She thought about them leaving their owner behind and going to the place of sunshine.

 _They're still out? So because of Crash's stupid obsession the others get to go out and leave me behind? Not if I have anything to do with it!_

All she had to do was get them back, but she knew they were not going to listen to her. A small beam of sunlight shone through the tiny hole in the cave wall. The gap was just big enough for a kitten.

'Me-ow, zipline!'

With the help of her zipline, the brown kitty stuck her head out the hole. She growled upon seeing the beach absolutely shrouded with white clouds.

'I am getting so _sick_ of seeing this fog. How much is it to ask for **one** sunny day?'

She leapt from her spot, and landed in the soft sand. The actual town was not too far away, and she could run there easily, but the very thought of the place sent shivers down her spine.

'It won't be for very long, Thief. Just find Dumbhinger and you can leave.'

* * *

Long before she could see the town through the thick clouds, she could hear the utter cacophony of its citizens. Thief knew she arrived when she saw the big buildings covered in graffiti.

Because of all the fog, very few people drove around, so the streets were flooded with people. It left hardly any room for anyone to walk about. And, being a tiny kitty, Thief felt trapped in a box.

And, as always, those many many people yelled and shouted at each other, screaming insults and expletives.

'Hey, get the hell out of my way!'

'I'm not in your way, dumbass!'

She duck and dove between the moving legs, hoping no one saw her. The screaming flooded her ears, and the smell of garbage was as heavy as always in the air, overwhelming her senses.

'God, I hate this place!'

In the middle of the mess of people, there was one colour she was looking for; indigo-purple. Among the civilians, she saw and heard them fighting, sometimes physically. Normally, she'd be shocked, but after seeing it for the twentieth time that week, it was no longer surprising to her.

'What the hell is wrong with you, lady?' A man yelled at a woman who'd punched him, before hitting her across the face in return.

Thief didn't want to admit, she really didn't, but she had to face the truth every day. Her owner, who saved her only to fulfil out his jealous fantasy, didn't give a damn about her, and wasn't even bothered to find out her correct sex?

He was a _saint_ compared to these people.

'AAH! Look what you did to my perfect purple suit!'

Speak of the devil.

She picked up the familiar voice, and saw the purple-clad man angry at a woman holding a now-empty cup of coffee. Judging by her face, no doubt she spilled her - thankfully not hot - coffee on him on purpose.

'Really? This town is a complete shithole and all you care about is your **damn suit?!** '

'You do not use that language around me, lady. I am the mayor of this town, and-'

'Then do something about how messed up everything is!'

Another one of these fights. They always paled in comparison to everyone else's brawls,

'Hmph. If you ask me, this town is hopeless.'

'Then why are you the mayor?'

'Did anyone _else_ want to be the mayor? I hate this place just as much as you do!'

The nearby crowd now stared at the two. Thief cringed, knowing exactly where it was going. She just wanted to 'talk' to her owner and get out of there, but she knew that getting in there would result in injury.

'Make it better! You're the mayor.'

'What do you think I'm doing every time I head over to Adventure Bay?'

'I dunno. Trying to abandon your own town, I guess.'

He turned away from her, crossing his arms like a bratty child.

'I see you're still bitter.'

There was a second of silence.

'Bitter? Ha! I've never been happier. You're just upset over that Goodway lady not getting with you.'

Thief's mouth fell open. She had always suspected the guy had some complicated feelings for that drama queen, but for the woman to say that...

'Well then. Why don't you move, _Bonnie?_ ' He said her name with such bitterness.

'Just improve your own damn town.'

She shoved him aside, and walked away deep into the fog. The crowd scattered, going back to their infighting.

'Mrow-row!'

He didn't hear her, but another man walking by did. The man glared down at her.

'Get away from me!'

'MROW!'

The man delivered a kick to her chest, sending her through the air and crashing into the cement. She struggled to get to her paws.

'Alright, you wanna do that? Me-ow, yarn la-'

'My kitty!'

Her owner pushed the man away with an angry look on his face.

' _Don't_ kick my kittens around.'

'What, so you can do it yourself?'

Thief mentally agreed with him. No doubt her owner only acted concerned in an attempt to fool her into staying. As predicted, the worry vanished from his face, and he directed his angry look to her.

'You're late, kitty.'

 _At least call me by a name._

'I expected you here much earlier. I've had to deal with these people by myself and... there's only one of you. Where are the other five?'

She had to wonder why he cared. He went out with only one of them all the time.

As if she could forget the words ' _Should've brought the flying kitty.'_

The blue-clad kitty adopted her best 'kitty-cat eyes', making herself look as sad and desperate as possible.

'I don't know! I just saw them leave the lair last night, and they left me behind with no second thoughts!'

To most people, all they'd hear is whiny meowing, but to her owner - the one good point he had - he could somehow understand.

'What?! They left the lair last night?'

Though she hated how he often repeated them, apparently thinking he needed to 'translate' for an audience.

'And worse; they took the kitty carrier with them!'

'And they took the kitty carrier with them?!'

If he repeated her words one more time, he would get yarn balls to the _face_.

'I-If I had to guess, they mentioned something about Adventure Bay before they left.'

'Adventure Bay? We'll have to go there at once!'

Everyone in the vicinity groaned, to varying degrees of frustration.

'Are you kidding me? Again?!'

'That's it, I'm moving to Adventure Bay.'

'I'm right with you.'

It wasn't a surprise to anyone that the population of the town dwindled more and more each day. The man in purple regained his composure, and began walking to the nearest taxi.

'Come along kitty. It's not a crew with only one kitten, is it? When we find them, they'll learn what happens when they run off.'

Thief shuddered, though she knew he wouldn't do anything _too_ intense.

'Aren't you gonna call the Paw Patrol or something?'

'Now, kitty, you know we call them for emergencies only.'

* * *

Even the taxi seats in the town were hard and uncomfortable. It was all likely the result of her owner spending all of his funds on his Adventure-Bay-related schemes.

'One kitten isn't nearly as helpful as six...'

Every time that man opened his mouth, Thief hated him more.

'A-hem!'

'Oh! Uh...' The typical damage control that always followed a stupid comment. 'Y-Ya see, it's just a numbers game! Of course six kittens is better than one. _Even if the flying kitten would be so much more useful..._ '

She growled, but did not respond, and could only hope the ride to the fogless place wouldn't take long.

'My kitties haven't run off from me before. What could've possibly caused them to leave?'

 _The realisation of truth. What else?_

Thief had a plan, a simple but great one. She refused to be stuck with her owner. The first step involved capturing her crew members, which was the difficult part considering one of them could fly.

She thought about what that insane flying kitty was talking about.

' _I just don't understand it. Everyone loves those dogs. Why don't they like us?'_

' _It's not just that. How many other times have those pups rescued us?'_

' _Do you remember when we pretended to be a rescue team?'_

' _This kitty's gotta fly!'_

' _Where are you going?' 'Somewhere important!'_

There was only one place that kitten was going. And Thief was gonna get him back.

 **Author Notes - INB4 I begin a bizarre 'Mayorshipping' trend.**

 **I was wondering why on earth this guy wanted to 'take over' Adventure Bay when he's already a mayor. Then I figured that Foggybottom must be a TERRIBLE place if he's** _ **that**_ **desperate.**

 **For a guy who's basically just a one-note 'villain', I find him to be kinda interesting. Sounds weird, I know, but hear me out.**

 **He's a mayor of his own town, but constantly has to try to show off to another mayor, always claiming that he and his town are so much better. We never see him actually doing his job, as far as I've seen.**

 **Not helping at all that said mayor is a woman. I mean, of course the woman is a much better mayor than the man, but it makes me wonder if he actually does have 'complicated feelings'.**

 **When it comes to his kittens, that's a whole other thing. Does he care? In 'Pups Save a Flying Kitty', he only cared about his socks. But I have seen him get worried about them when he knows they're in danger many times, only to go back to his own ways immediately after.**

 **Or am I looking too deep into this?**


End file.
